Now that Donald Trump has spent the past three days using Twitter to make clear to everyone involved that he’s not even close to being mentally competent, momentum for invoking the 25th Amendment has grown dramatically. That support isn’t merely coming from the American people. Congressman Jamie Raskin previously introduced a bill which would allow Congress to invoke the 25th on its own. Now that bill is rapidly gaining momentum among members of Congress.

The 25th Amendment is most widely known for giving the Vice President and the majority of the cabinet the ability to remove the President for being unfit. But Section 4 of the 25th actually goes further: “Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”

In other words, the 25th Amendment says that if there’s a law in place allowing Congress to remove the President, it can do so. That’s why Jamie Raskin introduced such a law: it creates a Congressional panel for invoking the 25th. But now other members of Congress are signing on. For instance Joaquin Castro tweeted this at Raskin today: “Hey what’s that 25th Amendment legislation you’re working on? Track me down when we get back next week” (link). In fact, since Trump’s latest Twitter meltdown began, there are now twenty-five members of Congress who have signed onto Raskin’s bill.

To be clear, the 25th Amendment (removing the President for being incapable of doing the job), is an entirely different thing than impeachment (charging, trying, and possibly removing the President for committing a specific crime). It may be easier for Congress to demonstrate that Donald trump is unfit for office than to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he’s guilty of his various crimes (collusion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, etc). And some Republicans in moderate districts might be more inclined to support it, in the hope of avoided getting wiped out in the midterms. So Raskin’s bill may end up being the most quick and efficient way of driving Trump out of office, beyond the public continuing to pressure Trump to resign. If you’re a regular reader, feel free to support Palmer Report.

Intrigue surrounds Trump and Putin’s meetGulf TimesUS President Donald Trump, who recently suggested that bilateral relations with Russia were at an all-time low, plans to meet with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the first time next week at the Group of 20 summit in the German city of Hamburg.

After three consecutive mornings of waking up and tweeting toxic garbage that have made him appear increasingly mentally unstable, Donald Trump may have managed to top himself this morning. Trump tweeted a mocked-up video of himself carrying out acts of violence on CNN, which was based on archival footage of his past involvement with World Wrestling Entertainment. In response to the video, so many people called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked that “#25thAmendmentNow” became the top trending topic on Twitter.

Congressman Ted Lieu tweeted that it’s “Never a good sign for @POTUS when the 25th Amendment starts trending on Twitter.” Then later he added that it’s “A worse sign for @realDonaldTrump when #25thAmendmentNow is trending even higher than just 25th Amendment.” (link). Political writer Thor Benson also invoked the hashtag, tweeting that “The guy who has the nuclear codes has skin that’s too thin to handle criticism from CNN” (link).

Political insider Scott Dworkin quipped that “I’d trust Gary Busey with the nuclear codes more than Trump” (link) in reference to the #25thAmendmentNow trending topic. Keith Olbermann called for immediate action: “The cabinet must invoke the 25th Amendment, TODAY, and immediately remove @realDonaldTrump from the presidency” (link). Dr. DaShanne Stokes, a sociologist, added “Just how scared of the truth do you have to be to want to model violence against the media who could hold you accountable?” (link).

Invoking the 25th Amendment would require the agreement of Mike Pence and the majority of the cabinet that Donald Trump is unfit for office. Thus far none of them have made any public statements against Trump, effectively remaining publicly loyal to him with their silence. It’s not known if anything is taking place among them behind the scenes. If you’re a regular reader, feel free to support Palmer Report

This morning Donald Trump tried to top himself in the “new lows” department by tweeting a decades-old but very real video of himself carrying out mock violence at a wrestling match, with the CNN logo superimposed over the face of the person he was pummeling. Trump seemed to think it was funny. Most of America instead saw it as a direct incitement to violence against CNN and the media. CNN is now lashing out at Trump in response.

CNN has released the following official statement: “It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters. Clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied when she said the President has never done so. Instead of preparing for his overseas trip, his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, dealing with North Korea, and working on his health care bill, he is instead involved in juvenile behavior far below the dignity of his office. We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his.”

CNN’s Brian Stelter posted the official statement via his Twitter account, emphasizing “We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his” in the process (link). CNN’s Jim Acosta also posted the official statement on his Twitter account, emphasizing “We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his.” (link)

Meanwhile CNN’s Ana Navarro added her own sentiment, appearing on ABC This Week this morning and stating “It is an incitement to violence. He is going to get someone killed in the media.” In the hours after Donald Trump tweeted the violent video, so many Twitter users began calling for his removal from office that the 25th Amendment became the number one trending topic on the social network. And law professor Laurence Tribe asked a question that a number of people are thinking: “Don’t the vilest and especially the most violent of @realDonaldTrump & @POTUS tweets violate Twitter’s terms of service? Does T get a pass?”

Baltimore Sun media critic David Zurawik says President Trump’s anti-CNN tweet is tantamount to fascism while political commentator Ben Ferguson says it was funny and no different than material that is shown on “Saturday Night Live.”

A united European front, not pandering, is the right response to the US presidents visitDonald Trump is coming back to Europe this week. The US president will first go to Warsaw for a major speech before arriving in Hamburg for the G20 summit. There will be headlines, most notably around the meeting between Mr Trump and Vladimir Putin as investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 US election continue to rock the administration. Later in the month, Mr Trump will attend the Bastille Day ceremonies in Paris as a guest of Frances Emmanuel Macron. He will not make a stopover in Britain: plans for a state visit were put on hold after Mr Trump reportedly told Theresa May he did not want to be exposed to large-scale protests. Last time Mr Trump came to the continent, a Nato meeting and a G7 summit ended in full-on acrimony, with European allies appalled by his contempt for transatlantic principles of governance. Will this time be any better? Just as he is almost everywhere else, Mr Trump is unpopular across Europe, where less than a fifth of citizens have confidence in his leadership.

Yet there are revealing contrasts in how European governments are dealing with him. Mr Trumps unpredictability is matched by European discomfort in how to approach him. The EU is on the upswing, with better economic prospects hovering into view. Despite the rallying factor of Brexit, political nuances among EU member states will not have entirely disappeared. That Angela Merkel, Europes most powerful leader, has worked hard to forge a common EU stance on trade and multilateralism ahead of the G20 is no surprise. Host of the summit (held in the city where she was born), the chancellor has long made clear her hostility to Trumps worldview, as well as her intention to leverage Europe as a bloc in opposing him, especially on climate change.

In sharing video of him pretending to body-slam CNN, the president did more than lower the tone: he once again undermined American democracy itself

Donald Trumps decision to tweet a video showing him body-slamming the wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, with the clip doctored to show McMahons head as a CNN logo, was un-American, a leading media ethicist said on Sunday.

Word To The President: ‘Professionalism’NPR
President Trump may insist he is not a professional politician. But Donald Trump has been a public figure for more than five decades. It is the life he chose. He’s been eager to be featured in financial columns, personality profiles, talk shows …

Nation’s Patience Wanes Awaiting GOP RevolutionNewsmax
The war being waged against Trump, the Republican Party, and America has expanded into the mainstream. On a daily basis, Americans experience fake news reports, witness obstruction to the point of sedition, and view mounting evidence of radical …

Late-night hosts discussed the president’s feud with George Conway and reviewed the long list of 2020 candidatesLate-night hosts took aim at the president’s Twitter feud with Kellyanne Conway’s husband and summarised the state of the 2020 race.Tweet Fighter: Kellyanne’s Husband vs. Kellyanne’s Boss pic.twitter.com/dYyDxfQy4Z Related: Trevor Noah on Boeing: ‘How was a self-crashing plane allowed […]